¹ Soffer, Reba, ‘Nation, duty, character and confidence: history at Oxford, 1850–1914’, Historical Journal, XXX, 1, (1987), 77–105CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

² Ibid. p. 78.

³ Ibid. p. 102.

⁴ Ibid. p. 78.

⁵ Ibid. p. 80.

⁶ Ibid. p. 80.

⁷ Ibid. p. 79.

⁸ Ibid. p. 78.

⁹ Ibid. p. 78.

¹⁰ Ibid. p. 78.

¹¹ Ibid. p. 78.

¹² Ibid. pp. 79, 84.

¹³ Ibid. pp. 78 n.2, 79 n.4, 83 n.16.

¹⁴ Slee, Peter R. H., ‘History as a discipline in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1848–1914’ (unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Cambridge, 1983), pp. 149–89Google Scholar; Learning and a liberal education: the study of modern history at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester, 1800–1914 (Manchester, 1986), pp. 60–1Google Scholar.

¹⁵ Soffer, , ‘History at Oxford’, p. 78 n.2Google Scholar, states that the book was published in 1912.

¹⁶ Rothblatt, Sheldon, Tradition and change in English liberal education: an essay in history and culture (London, 1976)Google Scholar; Slee, , Learning and a liberal education, pp. 2–3Google Scholar; ‘History as a discipline’, pp. iii–vii.

¹⁷ Soffer, , ‘History at Oxford’, p. 88Google Scholar.

¹⁸ Ibid. pp. 80 n.5, n.9, n.II, 98.

¹⁹ Ibid. p. 99. It is not clear from Professor Soffer's article whether Smith's questions are either ‘political and social’, or ‘social and political’, or indeed perhaps two separate sets of lectures.

²⁰ Slee, , ‘History as a discipline’, pp. 234–9Google Scholar; Learning and a liberal education, pp. 107–10. Smith's lecture notes are the property of Balliol College. They are located in the MS Collection, The A. L. Smith papers, section I, historical and scholarly, (a) historical papers, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5. The printed versions of his lecture notes on ‘English constitutional history from the beginning to 1307’ were compiled by Oliver Wardrof (1889) and E A C MacCurdy (1893) Richard Lodge's notes I discovered in Smith I (a) No 8 Boase's notes are the property of Exeter College, J I 1–21, J II 1–6, College History Box 5, L II 6, Box 6, II 7

²¹ Oman, C W C, Memories of Victorian Oxford, and of some early years (London, 1941), p 104Google Scholar

²² Slee, , ‘History as a discipline’, pp 246–51Google Scholar, Learning and a liberal education, pp 110, 116–17 See Bodleian, O U A MH/M/1/1, Bd of Faculty of arts, modern history minute book, vol 1, 1883–92, minutes 29 Feb 1884 Complete lists of books set for special subjects are set out of ten special subjects, nine require close study of original authorities It is worth noting here that in eight of the ten special subjects, the majority of sources are to be read in foreign languages Cf Soffer, , ‘History at Oxford’, pp 80–1Google Scholar I cite this minute because 1884 was the year in which P Fredencq visited Oxford and wrote the secondary source cited by Professor Softer as evidence of the undergraduates ‘untrained in modern foreign languages’

²³ O U A B F A MH/M/1/ 1 Mm 29 Feb 1884 Smith, Adam, Blanqui, , History of political economy, Cunningham, Growth of English commerce were set on the political science paper On 7 03 1884Google Scholar it was agreed that ‘A knowledge of Economic History will be required from candidates as well as the principles of political economy’ Three years later W J Ashley made it plain in his advice to students reading for the School that Cunningham, Rogers and Toynbee must be read for this paper Ashley, W J, ‘Modern history at Oxford’, in European schools of history and politics, ed White, A P (Johns Hopkins studies in historical and political science, fifth series, 12, 1887), pp 45–66Google Scholar

²⁴ Burrow, J W, A liberal descent Victorian historians and the English past (Cambridge, 1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Kenyon, John, The history men the historical profession in England since the renaissance (London, 1983)Google Scholar, Blaas, P B M, Continuity and anachronism parliamentary and constitutional development in whig historiography and the anti-whig reaction between 1890 and 1930 (The Hague, 1978)Google Scholar

²⁵ M. Curthoys has brought to my attention the existence of M. E. G. Finch-Hatton's modern history notes 1870–74, MS Top Oxon d 842–6. Formerly part of H. Gladstone's library, the notes were purchased in 1980.

²⁶ Balliol College, MS Collection. Smith Section 1. b. Box 3.

²⁷ Slee, , ‘History as a discipline’, pp. 92–3, 209–11Google Scholar; Learning and a liberal education, pp. 42–4, 92–3.

²⁸ The examination script is the property of Exeter College, Oxford, J. I. 8. A copy is reproduced in ‘History as a discipline’, pp. 322–45.

²⁹ Soffer, , ‘History at Oxford’, p. 79 n.3Google Scholar.

³⁰ Ibid. p. 79.

³¹ Ibid. p. 78

³² Ibid. pp. 95 (n.75, n.75, n.77), 96, (n.79)

³³ Oman, , On the writing of history (London, 1939), pp. 232–48Google Scholar; Bill, E. G. W., University reform in nineteenth century Oxford: a study of Henry Halford Vaughan 1811–1885 (Oxford, 1973)Google Scholar; Engel, Arthur, From clergyman to don: the rise of the academic profession in nineteenth century Oxford (Oxford, 1983)Google Scholar; Heyck, T. W., The transformation of intellectual life in Victorian England (London, 1982)Google Scholar.

³⁴ Slee, , ‘History as a discipline’, pp. 285–96Google Scholar; Learning and a liberal education, pp. 142–9. Firth's only call for constitutional change in A Plea was that submissions for prize essays be taken into account by examiners when marking the special subject. On 20 October 1905 legislation was carried which allowed essays submitted for the Stanhope, Lothian and Cobden Prizes to be assessed in the final examination It was not until May 1906 that Firth proposed formally that a thesis be included in the regulations governing the special subject Though it was not, as he had hoped, made compulsory, on 15 March 1907 regulations were passed enabling students to write a thesis in lieu of one special subject paper Bodleian Library, O U A Mh/M/1/2 Min 20 Oct 1905, 10 May 1906, 15 March 1907, Oxford University Gazette, XXXVIII, No 1219, 12 Nov 1907, P 145

³⁵ Slee, History as a discipline', pp 144–5. Learning and a liberal education, pp 86–95, Bodleian, WP T/28 Reports of hebdomadal council 1864–9, 6 May 1868, p 32, Committee on Examinations, p 45 0 U Gazette I, No 9, 22 March 1870, p 6 MS Top Oxon d 842–6 M E G Finch-Hatton's modern history notes 1870–4 They are comprised mostly of notes of reading

³⁶ Soffer, , ‘History at Oxford’, pp 85, 97Google Scholar

³⁷ Evidence taken by commissioners 1881, LVI, p 286, Evidence of H B George Also, New College archives, 9647–8 Shelf 4, Mins of the Warden and Tutors' meetings, p 106, 10 Nov 1869, giving George permission to join a system that clearly is long-standing Professor Soffer does not give evidence for her founding date of 1869

³⁸ Slee, History as a discipline', pp 140–2, 213–14, Learning and a liberal education, pp 88–9

³⁹ Soffer, , ‘History at Oxford’, p 78Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Millerson, G., ‘Education in the professions’, in Education and the professions, ed. Cook, T G. (London, 1973), pp. 1–18Google Scholar; Reader, W. J., Professional men: the rise ofthe professional classes in nineteenth century England (London, 1966)Google Scholar; A. Engel, From clergyman to don; T. W. Heyck, The transformation of intellectual life, Rothblatt, S., The revolution of the dons: Cambridge and society in Victorian England (London, 1968)Google Scholar; Levine, P., The amateur and the professional: antiquarians, historians and archaeologists in Victorian England 1838–1886 (Cambridge, 1986)Google Scholar; Goldstein, D., ‘The organisational development of the British historical profession 1884–1921’, BIHR, LV (1982), 180–93Google Scholar.

⁴¹ Higham, J., ‘The historical profession’, in History: the development of historical studies in the United States, by Higham, J., with Krieger, L. and Gilbert, F. (New Jersey, 1965), pp. 1–86Google Scholar (p. 5).

⁴² Goldstein, D., ‘The organisational development’, pp. 190–3Google Scholar; G. Millerson, ‘Education in the Professions’, passim.

⁴³ For further discussion of this point see Slee, , Learning and liberal education, pp 99–102Google Scholar and ‘The profession of history’ in Cannon, J. et al. (eds), The dictionary of historians (OxfordGoogle Scholar, forthcoming).

⁴⁴ Balliol, , A. L. Smith papers TÜB 317–331 ‘Maitland’, Smith, to Maitland, , 17 11 1905Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ Students were ‘permitted to specialise solely in law and modern history’ from 1864, not 1866 (p 77) Law and Modern History were separated in 1870, not 1872 (p 77) Professor Soffer claims that after 1900 there are no data about examiners in the School (p 87, n 34) The requisite data are to be found in UR/L38/3 Modern History Examiners' Notebook, vol I 1900–37, or in MH/R1/1, MH/R/1/2 Examiners' reports 1900–1914 The statement (p 88) that ‘By 1913 the examiners found, in five theses submitted, “a tendency to substitute mere literary presentment for historical research”’ is false the quotation is from the Report for 1914 All five candidates wrote good theses, two scored first class marks and three second class marks Montague Burrows and A E Freeman (p 89) should read Montagu Burrows, and E A Freeman Litterae Humaniores (p 89) was commonly spelled Literal Humaniores The ‘Memorandum on the organization of advanced historical teaching in Oxford (12 June 1908)’ that Professor Soffer cites (p 96, n 78) states clearly that seminars in palaeography (by Madan), diplomatic (by Poole), sources and bibliography (by Firth, Egerton, Grant, Fisher, Davis and Oman), and medieval law and institutions (by Vinogradoff) were planned, and that Napier, Balfour and Oelsner were doing advanced work on language The report of the committee for advanced historical studies which reported on 15 Nov 1909 (G A Oxon b 138 (84)) notes that Madan ran two courses of lectures and one informal seminar with classes averaging from five to ten, that Poole ran three classes with an average of three to four attending, that Vinogradoff had a class of nine, Davis on sources of Anglo-Saxon history a class of six, on sources 1066–1270 a class of seven ‘of whom two subsequently withdrew’, and that Fisher's class on sources for the reigns of Henry VII and VIII had a class of eight There are other reports in this series which serve further to disprove her statement about them on page 96

⁴⁶ There is, to my knowledge, no evidence to support the claim (p 79) that, although critical of ‘the way’ history was taught at Oxford, that Tout, Tait, Ashley, Muir and Pollard accepted the ‘meaning and content’ of what was taught While Tout and Tait wrote administrative history, they did not teach it Mackay not Muir, was head of the Liverpool School It is hardly surprising that Oxford graduates in history were to be found in the Historical Association, P R O, DNB etc Between 1880 and 1914 the following numbers graduated in history from the ‘civic’ universities Manchester (134), Leeds (53), Liverpool (51), Sheffield (8), Bristol (7) Fewer than fifty graduated from London in that time Many of the best of these – Tait, G A Wood, Muir, Powicke, and Galbraith among them – went through the Oxford School after they had taken their first degree

There are further problems (p 79) with the numbers generated by Professor Soffer (1) Some of those graduates read Lit Hums or another School before reading History, (2) The figures do not include the substantial numbers who read for the pass school (19 per cent in 1901–3) which was largely a classical course Nor does it take into account the considerable numbers who spent their first five terms reading for classical honour mods (3) Qualitative judgements cannot yet be made from quantitative data Judging by scholarship and fellowship ratios, and ratios of first and second class degrees, the prestige of classics was still much higher than that of history in this period

⁴⁷ Page 83, lines 13–15, are a summary of pages 135–9 of Woodward's autobiography Woodward is talking of the way in which he used his own love of the past to transcend the problems of Writing and teaching ‘costume history’ Page 84, para 2 the points made here about the problems of developing the new subject have been made in 1983 in Slee, , ‘History as a discipline’, pp 45–6Google Scholar, 80–4 and Learning and a liberal education, pp 21–2, 40–6 Page 90, para 2, lines 8–9 this fact was established by Edwards, J G, William Stubbs (Historical Association, 1952), pp 3–4Google Scholar ‘In the seventeen years of his professorship there were thus but two years unmarked by the publication of one major work’ This statement by Edwards is prefaced by a list of Stubbs' work with blanks for the years 1877 and 1881 Page 94, line 7 the quotation used here is not from the source cited in the footnote (70) but from a lecture, ‘The science of history’, delivered in 1864 Page 95, lines 2–4; the first part of this quotation may be found in Slee, , ‘History as a discipline’, p. 287Google Scholar, and Slee, , Learning and a liberal education, p. 144Google Scholar. Furthermore, the second part of this quotation, the ‘wicked four’ is not part of the same document.

⁴⁸ I am in no position to have even begun to check many of the references cited by Professor Soffer. My observations are based only on those I have to hand in my own office. The following quotations have been transcribed inaccurately: p. 78, 1. 7; p. 81, para 9, 1. 7; p. 82, para 2, 1. 8 (the page references in n. 13 are also incorrect); p. 83 n. 16 (this page reference is incorrect); p. 85, para 2, 11. 4–5 (this source is the same as that used on p. 78 n.2 bu t it is given here as being in a different location); p. 90, para 3, 11. 5, 10, 18; p. 91 para 2, 1. 8, para 4, 1. 9 (the page reference in n. 52 is also incorrect); p. 92, para 3, 1. 4, pp. 92–3 (this quotation is given n. 60 the wrong page reference); p. 93; 1. n, p. 93, para 3, 1. 2.

⁴⁹ See for instance, Sutherland, G., ‘The study of the history of education’, History LIV, (1969)Google Scholar, Briggs, Asa, ‘The study of the history of education’, HEJ, I, I. (1972)Google Scholar; Simon, B., ‘The history of education in the 1980s’, BJES, 30.01. 1982Google Scholar; Stephens, W. B., ‘Recent trends in the history of education’, ERP, 8.01.1981Google Scholar; Rothblatt, Sheldon, Revolution of the dons (1980 edn), pp. 1–26Google Scholar; Withrington, D. J., Review of ‘G. E. Davie's Democratic intellect’, Universities Quarterly, XVI (1961–1962), pp. 948Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Arthur Engel, From clergyman to don; Anderson, R. D., Education and opportunity in Victorian Scotland (Oxford, 1983)Google Scholar; Carswell, John, Government and the universities in Britain (Cambridge, 1985)Google Scholar; Sanderson, Michael, The universities and British industry, 1850–1970 (London, 1972)Google Scholar;Jarausch, K. H. (ed.), The transformation of higher learning 1860–1930 (Chicago, 1983)Google Scholar.